G7 Future of Seas and Ocean Initiative

Priority Topics 2023

One Argo Programme

Enhance G7 commitments to implement the OneArgo array through annual reviews of implementation status and national commitments for the OneArgo programme consisting of the core array, the biogeochemical array (BGC Argo), and the deep array.

Ocean Carbon

Increase global capacity to monitor, understand, and predict the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle; support international efforts to develop strategies to address knowledge and data gaps; enhance G7 commitments to support ocean carbon data synthesis programmes that produce regular data products used in global research and assessments.

Augmented observing and forecasting for marine life

Increase global capacity to monitor, understand, and predict ocean biology and ecosystems with an emphasis on a) global databases and infrastructure for marine life data, b) observation systems, beginning with plankton as the base of all life in the ocean, and c) expansion of marine life observations as part of the global system by facilitating the development of a requirements-driven strategy to resource (including engagement with the modeling community).

Digital TWIN OCEAN capabilities

Enhance international collaborations on the development of digital twins of the ocean including observing requirements and data sharing / interoperability issues.

Global ocean monitoring indicator framework

Support international efforts to establish a global ocean indicator framework that translates Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) into ocean phenomena (e.g., which EOVs are needed to define and assess ocean deoxygenation, plastic pollution, ocean acidification, biodiversity, marine heat waves, etc.) using a common framework with agreed criteria and methodologies to monitor changes in the ocean in a transparent and authoritative way. Building on this work, support international efforts to identify the social and economic data needed to combine with these ocean indicators to create decision-making tools for sustainable development (e.g., for use in digital twins of the ocean.)

See the categories of topics of the new work plan for 2023